Wriddhiman Saha, R Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw will represent India in the Adelaide Test. Umesh Yadav will be the third fast bowler. These were the main questions India asked itself two days before the Test: whether to continue backing the energetic Shaw, whether to play with a spinner and persist with the safer option of Ashwin, and which of the wicketkeepers to field.
On the eve of the day-night Test, they cleared up all the confusion by naming the eleven players.
Shaw had been under pressure, with Shubman Gill showing better performance in the two tour matches. However, Shaw was the starting opening batsman and proved in a four-run innings in New Zealand that he can be destructive.Similarly, the Test’s headline spinner, especially with the absence of Ravindra Jadeja due to injury and concussion, kept his place.
In the case of the wicketkeeper, India left out the regular Pant, who has been preferred over Saha in Tests outside of Asia, where most of the wicketkeeping is done standing back. The management team seems to have decided that the pink ball does a lot and will require a more established pure wicketkeeper.
Yadav was the favorite to be India’s third fast bowler, replacing the injured Ishant Sharma.
India XI: 1 Mayank Agarwal, 2 Prithvi Shaw, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (c), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Jasprit Bumrah
